Seatposts: Overlooked Yet Critical For Your Comfort

Sometimes cycling is a real pain in the ass, literally. Especially for those of us who enjoy the path less travelled.

You’re probably thinking that you need a steel frame to smoothen out those uneven roads you want to travel, because steel frames are comfortable, right?

Frame materials and their design are actually relatively minor in the comfort equation. Road vibrations and hits are mostly absorbed through your tyres, seatpost and saddle. We’re talking millimetres to centimetres of shock dissipation for each of those components, far more than a frame alone can possibly offer your body.

Seatpost Choice Is Critical For Comfort

Seatposts are without doubt, the most overlooked component on a bicycle. I don’t know anybody who has ever picked a seatpost because of its riding qualities; instead people often look at how cheap, lightweight, reliable or how well it matches their bike. But if you’re selecting a component for its comfort, the humble seatpost should be the first place you look. A stiff seatpost tends to negate ALL benefits of a steel/titanium frame or slightly wider tyres!

Seatposts vary greatly with how well they handle both vibrations from the road, and bigger hits. Road cyclists have the most to gain from a well-designed seatpost given the reduced damping of their narrow tyres and harder saddles, but really, every cyclist can achieve a substantial comfort gain from a seatpost swap out.

Velo Magazine did some seatpost testing back in 2012, data which I will draw upon when making any conclusions in this piece. Click HERE if you’d like to read about their testing protocol.

The Different Types of Seatpost

Carbon, Aluminium, Titanium Seatposts

Seatposts can be manufactured with different materials. Most seatposts are made out of aluminium as they are cheap to manufacture, are lightweight and are reliable. Carbon seatposts are more expensive, but are the lightest in weight and offer an exceptional ride quality. Titanium seatposts are generally only used in conjunction with titanium frames for aesthetic purposes.

Suspension Seatposts

There are a handful of suspension seatpost manufacturers around the world, perhaps the most common is the Cane Creek Thudbuster. The advantage of a suspension seatpost is that it will take the jarring out of big hits, far more so than any rigid seatpost. The main disadvantage is the increase in weight.

Elastomer Seatposts

Specialized insert an elastomer into their two comfort seatposts to achieve their desired ride characteristics. Using elastomers and carbon is a lightweight and reliable way to make an effective seatpost.

Straight and Setback Seatposts

Seatposts are available in different offsets. A setback seatpost puts you further behind your crankset and a straight seatpost moves you closer. The amount of offset on your seatpost is best determined through a bicycle ‘fit’ at a specialist shop. They will measure the relationship between your knee and pedal axle to optimise your cycling efficiency. You can read more on bike geometry and fitting HERE.

Seatpost Damping

Damping is the speed at which seatposts flex. It’s the most important seatpost characteristic for cyclists riding on roads, which realistically is all of us. Seatposts with high-damping qualities insulate riders from the harshness of any road by reducing the vibrations coming up through the bike. A high-damping seatpost can be TWICE as good at absorbing vibrations than one that performs poorly!

Velo Magazine’s Damping Test Results

Straight seatposts of any material (carbon, titanium, aluminium) are the worst at damping shock. The best are often setback and made using carbon fibre. Almost all of the carbon seatposts in the Velo test outshone their aluminium and titanium counterparts, reaffirming the brilliant damping qualities of carbon as a construction material.

For those of us spending time exclusively on rough tracks and trails, damping bares little relevance. Enter seatpost flex…

Seatpost Flex

Flex is the total movement that a seatpost will move after a hit. Seatpost flex protects a rider from potentially damaging jolts like unexpected pot holes or corrugations. A vertical and horizontal measurement can be made, ranging between 3-6mm of movement in each direction. When comparing rigid seatposts, some offer over almost 50% more flex than others (eg. the Thomson Setback flexes half as much as a Ritchey Carbon Setback). On a rough road or trail, that will make a lot of difference!

The best seatpost for rough roads, which is in another league altogether, is the suspended Cane Creek Thudbuster. It offers 3-4x MORE flex than the best rigid seatpost. The Thudbuster has been tested to move around 14mm vertically and 20mm horizontally. You can read my review of it HERE.

Velo Magazine’s Deflection Test Results

In general, carbon seatposts deflect more than similar aluminium ones, which is good for the bigger hits. Setback seatposts tended to flex more than their straight counterparts too. That makes a setback carbon seatpost the best all-round option for off-road comfort.

Horses for Courses

There is no seatpost that is the best for every road. Instead, you will have to compromise in some way. Do you need lots of flex in your seatpost, or are you just after the vibration damping? According to the Velo testing, you’d be best off with an FSA K-Force Light seatpost if you need damping, and a Ritchey WCS Carbon seatpost if you need the flex. The Cannondale and Specialized seatposts are great for all-round use.

The closest seatpost to comfort perfection would have to be the Cane Creek Thudbuster. The built-in elastomer allows both exceptional vibration damping on smooth roads and incomparable flex for the bigger hits on dirt roads. I review mine HERE.

The Most Comfortable Seatposts

Cane Creek Thudbuster ST – The best seatpost for bigger hits and one of the top for vibration damping. US$149.Cannondale SAVE – A great all-round seatpost for both vibration and big hits. US$180.Canyon VCLS 2.0 – This post receives excellent reviews for it’s unique design. US$299.Ergon CF3 – Using Canyon’s technology, Ergon have produced a reputable comfort seatpost. US$299.FSA K-Force Light – The best-tested seatpost for minimising vibrations. US$220.Ritchey WCS Carbon – Great all-round seatposts for both vibration and big hits. US$209.Specialized CG-R or S-Works SL Pave – According to Specialized the CG-R has the most vertical compliance of any non-suspended seatpost. The Pave tested very well for vibration damping in Velo’s testing. US$149 to US$199.Syntace P6 Carbon Hi-Flex – This highly-reputable seatpost is light and is said to flex up to 20mm. That would rank it highly for both vibration and bigger hits. US$199.

Alee LOVES bikes and travel. So much so he once sold everything he owned to ride through 30 countries to learn a bit about himself and the world. Check out his book Bicycle Touring in One Hour to do the same: http://cyclingabout.com/bicycle-touring-book/

I haven’t had any experience with it, but from what I’ve heard, it’s a great alternative to the Cane Creek.

Claudio Suau

Thanks Alee, I have a NCX, but I used for only 3 weeks, I still don’t travel with it, and I never had a suspension seatpost before.
Thanks again and please continue writing articles like this, they are very good to learn about cycle touring.

Becky Crozier

I would like to add a seatpost that is both suspension and setback for a small Haibike Hardlife that I can barely stand over. Does this exist?
First, suspension because even though I’m on just pebbly trails, I feel every bump. (BTW, I’m an older, but enthusiastic rider, and I’m small (102 lbs.), but I’m strong and athletic.)
Secondly, I barely fit the standover height, so that crossbar can really cause me some pain if I don’t stop carefully and slide my rear close to the seat. I’ve pushed the seat back as far as it will go.
So I see there are setback seatposts, and I see there are suspension seatposts, but I can’t quite visualize one that does both. Thanks in advance if anyone has a suggestion.

Alee

Hi Becky. All suspension seatposts have a significant setback (more so than a regular one). You should be fine with any of them.

Andy Pettitt

I have been using USE suspension seatposts since the early 90s.They are fully servicable and the damping can be adjusted depending on which elastomers are used.I am using a USE Shokpost Vibe on my current world tour, and wouldn’t use anything else.Price wise they are comparable with the Thudbuster.Check them out at http://www.use1.com

Robert Boucher

The Eriksen Sweetpost is the best seatpost on the market.

Alex Lopez

What about suspended saddles? I’m not talking about the classic leather saddle with springs, but more modern ones like the Selle Royal Wave.

Bart Windrum

I just did my first ride with the Thudbuster ST, a 27 out-back mostly on chipped rock gravel. I’m older and been riding ~2 years; 10 miles is too short a ride and my first 32 miler trashed me. I’ve enhanced my 29er’s feel via a Serfas Rx saddle (substantial but not overly padded, and completely split down the middle, offering a bit of cush) and with a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Mondial touring tires which I can run at 45/50 front/rear psi (instead of the 65psi my OE WTB Nano Comps ran at); the Mondial’s are both cushier and roll noticeably easier. The ST’s result is unexpectedly profound: today, the day after, I’m not sore. Anywhere, anyhow. The ST just sucks up all the abuse formerly absorbed by my spine, musculature, viscera. Quite possibly the best, most important enhancement I’ve made.

Vadim Goziker

Why did you choose ST and not LT?

Bart Windrum

Vadim, because my routes are not very bumpy. I ride on paved surfaces and inter-town dirt/pebble trails. No mountain riding, no single track, no washboards, stumps, rocks, slopes. For this lightweight use it seemed that short travel would be enough, which I could only surmise from what’d I’d read and seen, having zero prior experience with this design (my old seat post was a cheap inner-spring design that cannot respond accurately to road input as the Thudbusters can). The other reason is that I need the seat post space for my seabag and fender to attach. For me any ride, esp those that take me 10-15 miles from home or car-base, are ‘tours;’ I want the things one would use for various circumstances and https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/37a16bd3cad01fa9f5e9db8428be572fa638fdd248d452b679c2db1c5abed3d4.jpg conditions on board at all times.

A prudent choice! Be advised that when energetically engaged it has the potential to slightly launch you off the saddle. It does a more focused job than rear suspensions so 🙂

Doc Rick

I’m considering putting either a syntace p6 or a fsa k light force on a trek superfly fs. I’m guessing that the proper seatpost will help with that part of riding trails that the suspension doesn’t kick in for as well, such as rapid little chatter. The bigger hits are what the suspension is for. So which of these two do you think would do a better job for what I’ve discribed?

I have both models. St for road and trails. Lt for roughstuff. I prefer fizik arione saddles for on and offroad. Both work well. However you need a smooth pedalling action,as on an a full suspension bike,otherwise you will bob up n down like a yo-yo! Very effective for the high weight penalty. Have been using both for over ten years. The elastomers have shrunk slightly and feel a little harder. But replacements are reasonably priced. I can recommend them both for value and performance. I am 5’4″ about 64kg. So all my frames are short and stiff. The thudbuster really helps my back from excess jarring on our potholed British roads!

White A$$ Honky

You said titanium seat posts were only used on titanium frames (wrong) and didn’t mention them again. I love my titanium seat posts, they’re light, strong and flex, making them very comfortable.If you had included Ti in your tests you would see that titanium is better than all of the other seat posts you mention but you provide no data on them because you believe they don’t look good..